


Reconditioning

by rhysespieses



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, Entrapdak, F/M, Horde Prime's an ass, Hurt, be nice to your siblings, i'm bad with addtional tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21583201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysespieses/pseuds/rhysespieses
Summary: Now that he’s been reunited with his “brother,” Hordak has been taken to be Reconditioned under Horde Prime’s orders. It’s been a long time  since he’s experienced a Reconditioning, and it’s more painful than he remembers- physically, mentally and emotionally.
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 86





	Reconditioning

**Author's Note:**

> Entrapdak came up to me and shoved good content into my hands. Then Horde Prime showed up. I have no excuse, I just wanted to write something for Entrapdak.

“Take him to be Reconditioned,” were the last words Horde Prime had said. Hordak then felt hands pull him to his feet and drag him away, leaving the new Queen of Bright Moon and Catra alone with his “brother.” His most notorious enemy and his most notorious traitor; how ironic that they be kept around by Prime while he was sent away.

Hordak had been on the receiving end of many a Reconditioning in the past, but it had been a long time since the last one before winding up in Etheria. Or, at least, it felt like a long time to him; to Prime, it was probably nothing, at best a short while. 

They took him down some hallways, passing more underlings who looked like Prime. He’d almost forgotten how juxtaposed he looked surrounded by clones again; he’d been the only one who looked like him back on Etheria, and somehow he both missed and hated that notion. Missed the individuality that came with being the only one like him, and hated it in that it was another show of wavering loyalty to Prime. 

Horde Prime’s philosophy has always been “you don’t learn anything without a little pain.” He rationalized it after Hordak’s first Reconditioning that physical suffering would make him a more means to Prime’s ends, but Hordak always found it agonizing. The tenderness and pangs he felt afterward weren’t expected of clones, which further cemented his position as the defect in the mass of clones at his “brother’s” disposal. 

But for once, Hordak was less concerned about the physical pain of Reconditioning and more worried about the mental erasure that he knew was coming. Reconditioning did more than just physically whip a clone back into shape, it wiped the clone’s memory almost completely. Anything but the clone’s memories of service to Prime were taken away, destroyed. 

In a way, he was both welcoming of it and terrified of it, neither of which were like him at all. To welcome pain made him seem like a madman; to be terrified of it meant he’d grown fond of whatever memories and feelings he was scared to lose. 

There were some memories he was happy to forget: Catra’s betrayal and all her recent lies, those were good things to forget; the general tedious goings-on of the Horde back on Etheria that he considered a waste of his time, that was something he wouldn’t exactly miss. Double Trouble having the audacity to shapeshift their hair to look like Entrapta’s to catch him off guard.

_Entrapta…_

Those were the memories he was scared of losing most of all.

While she’d initially been trespassing, he found it odd that it somehow worked out in her favor. If she hadn’t ensured his early portal device could hold the necessary charge it needed, he would still be thrashing about angrily, in his old suit, in pain, trying to figure out how to configure a stable portal and quash the Rebellion at the same time. 

Up until the portal incident, most of his memories of Entrapta had been… good. Pleasant even. Maybe more than pleasant. Entrapta had been… different compared to everyone else in the Horde. She wasn’t afraid of anyone, not even him. He didn’t know how to feel about that at first. He was so used to everyone being afraid of him that Entrapta’s lack of a fear response confused him unlike anything else; more than being stranded and left on a strange planet to fend for himself. 

He admired her dedication to her work, and the lengths she would go to ensure that even a minor experiment worked successfully. He was also baffled when it came to her safety, or more accurately, lack thereof. 

Ever since he pulled her out of the line of fire for the first failed portal, he found that he liked the feeling; the feeling of covering her, shielding her from danger. He rationalized it in the beginning, telling himself that he only did it because he couldn't afford to lose the most efficient scientist the Horde had ever acquired. But after that, he kept an eye on Entrapta, making sure she didn't get caught in the crossfire. There was only one other time when Entrapta ran the risk of injury, and it was shortly before Catra's big fiasco with the portal. 

Entrapta had been modifying a piece of equipment up near the ceiling and had been standing on a pipe that didn't look secure. Well, hardly anything in the Horde was secure or stable, and Hordak found himself moving under the pipe just as a precaution. He was glad he did, because the pipe gave out and, for once, Entrapta's hair failed to catch her. There was a nasally yelp, Emily made some noises, Imp just watched, and the next thing Hordak knew, Entrapta was in his arms, his chin at her collarbone. He meant to put her down on the floor almost immediately, but she was… warm. Warm and soft. Her body wasn't hard and solid like his, it had some give to it. Is this what some of his underlings meant when they said fleshy? Is this what fleshy felt like? 

He remembered that she smelled nice, too. She smelled like mechanical oil and metal and fried circuits; somehow they worked for her. He wasn’t sure if she was generating electricity or not because it felt like a kind of shock the longer he held her. His face was warm too, almost burning. He didn’t understand what it was or why it had happened, much less why Entrapta had a pink tinge to her face; it didn’t help when she wrapped her arms around his neck and thanked him for catching her in a quiet voice, even though they- aside from Imp and Emily- were the only ones there. That was when the shock started feeling more like sparks, but, in a good way…? 

He regretted lashing out at her just before the portal fiasco. With Double Trouble's new information on her actual whereabouts, he regretted a lot of things. He regretted giving in to Entrapta's suggestion and sending Catra to the Crimson Waste; Beast Island wouldn't have allowed her to come back. Ironically though, he couldn't entirely blame Catra for everything that happened; it was Catra that brought Entrapta to his attention after all. But that didn't excuse the way Catra handled things when they didn't go the way she planned. It didn't excuse the fact that she lied. 

And it was because of her lies that he was now on his way to be Reconditioned. To have his body put through more pain than it needed. To have his memories wiped. 

Even the memories of Entrapta. 

The clones carrying him brought Hordak into a room with a pod and the clones escorting him shoved him into it. The green translucent doors doors slid shut on him and there was a moment of silence. He could faintly make out the silhouettes of the other clones on the other side of the glass, one moving over to a control panel of sorts. There were a few small sounds of buttons being pressed before something in the pod started humming. He felt cables connect to the ports on his back and arms. 

And then there was the pain. 

So much pain. 

Hordak never screamed or cried during a Reconditioning in the past. But with everything that happened recently, he wasn't ready for it. 

He couldn't feel the tears streaming down his face. He couldn't hear the cry he was making. There was only one thing he felt before he succumbed to it all: sadness.

" _I'm sorry… Entrapta…_ " he whispered. 


End file.
